The boxing event billed as “NEW PROSPECTS III” held at Bagumbayan, Taguig City last Saturday, June 26, turned out to be a coming out party for the biggest prospect of them all, JOSE OCAMPO (12W-3L-7KOs) of the Camitan Boxing Stable of Manila.

The fight was a 10-round Main Event for the 13-fight boxing card composed of 84 classic rounds of ring battles.

Both fighters were southpaws, which added the curiosity of this writer to the game plans of each fighter facing a fellow left-hander.

The main event easily became the “Fight of the Night”. Here’s the round-by-round account of the said fight:

- The first 2 rounds were very tactical as both fighters try to feel each other out without unleashing heavy punches just yet. I saw Esperas gain a slight edge based on the volume of effective punches that he landed on Ocampo.

- In the 3rd, Ocampo, sensing that he was behind on the scorecards, increased his work rate. He connected first with a cracking right hok, which rocked Esparas then followed it up with a left hook, which wobbled Esparas. As the round was about to end, Ocampo unleashed another strong left hook sending Esparas crashing to the canvas for a clean knockdown. However, Esparas survived the round on his feet.

- Ocampo started the 4th round like a house on fire and connected with heavy bombs. But Esparas was a tough customer still refusing to concede the fight and again finished the round still standing.

- Esparas came back to life on the 5th as he traded with Ocampo and proved that he can still reverse the tide of the fight. Ocampo obliged and continued his assault. Before the round came to a close, Ocampo connected with a strong left, which almost dropped Esparas.Esparas desperately hung on for dear life and miraculously came out for the 6th canto.

- The 6th was a give and take affair for both protagonists wherein the round could go either way on the judges’ scorecards.

- The first half of the 7th round was dominated by Ocampo. Before the end of the 2nd minute of the round, Ocampo was about to finish off Esparas, the latter suddenly showed his fighting heart and retaliated furiously. In effect, Ocampo almost went down. Another difficult round to call.

- At the start of the 8th, both fighters approached each other at the middle of the ring with annihilation in mind. The huge crowd at the Bagumbayan Sports Complex, Taguig City could not stop screaming for the entirety of the round as both ring gladiators traded punishing blows. However, it was a clear Ocampo round as he was more effective in landing his own punches.
A strong left at the first minute of the 9th round thrown by Ocampo, sent Esparas crashing down towards the direction of the canvas but was saved by the ropes from going down. Esparas was obviously groggy. Another left from Ocampo rocked Esparas again but e miraculously survived the round by sheer guts and fighter’s instinct.

- In the last round, both fighters wanted to knock his opponent out. As far as Esparas is concerned, he knew he was behind in the scorecards and he thought only a knockout can make him win the fight. Ocampo also did not want to depend on the judges scorecards and wanted to impress the raucous crown in attendance. Both fighters threw caution to the wind to the delight of the jampacked citizens of Taguig City.

The main event fighters finished the fight both on their feet, but the excitement caused by their 10-round contest exceeded all the expectations of the spectators.

In the end, Ocampo prevailed via a unanimous decision.

This writer sees the fighting style of Ocampo very similar to the style of Manny Pacquiao when our Filipino boxing icon was still starting to carve out his budding career on the boxing show, Blow By Blow.

Ocampo is also a southpaw, a strong puncher, has an average defense, quick on his feet. Most importantly, his fighting heart will bring him to places.

A special guest at ringside is Leon Panoncillo, Jr., the World Boxing Organization (WBO) Vice President for Asia-Pacific, Oriental and Africa. He was there not only to provide for moral support and inspiration to all boxing prospects. Panoncillo was also scouting for the next WBO World Champion. He told this writer that he found gems among the line-up of fighters. However, special mention was made by Panoncillo about Ocampo. He is now planning to give the fighter an opportunity to go for the WBO Asia-Pacific Youth Superfeatherweight Championship.

WBO has been very supportive of Philippine boxing, and is willing to invest its time and effort to give the Filipino boxers all the opportunities that they deserve. The leadership of WBO gave Panoncillo the go signal to work very hard to achieve this goal.

In one of the two exciting supporting main events, Light Flyweight Jason Canoy (6W-0L-4 KOs) of Omega Boxing Gym of Cebu City beat John Rey Loreto of Highland Boxing Gym of La Trinidad, Benguet via a unanimous decision. It was Canoy’s first fight outside Cebu City.

In the other supporting main event, bantamweight Dennis Tubieron (5W-0L-2KOs) of Ariscon Boxing Stable of Muntinlupa City sent 43-fight veteran Noel Sungahid of Planet Jupiter Gym, Makati City to submission on the 7th round. In effect, Tubieron won via a 7th round Technical Knock Out (TKO).

In an 8-round affair, Rodynie Rafols of Top Contenders Gym, Bacoor Cavite knocked out Charlie Angel by a hard right to the body.

Serving as the runner-up for the Fight of the Night, Adonis Cabalquinto (3W-0L-2KOs) defeated previously undefeated Frederick Pontines of Jaro Boxing Gym of Binangonan, Rizal in a “heavy” light welterweight contest schedule at 6 rounds via a unanimous decision. Though Pontines was the heavier puncher, Cabalquinto was the more complete fighter, using his handspeed, footwork and good defense to frustrate his opponent.

Aljhun Osabel of Ariscon Boxing Gym, Muntinlupa City knocked Jhofel Camo Camo 2 times in the 4th round, en route to Osabel’s 6-round unanimous decision victory over his adversary from Sky King Gym of Tanza, Cavite.

Froilan Saludar (6W-0L-1D-3KOs) of Top Contenders Gym, Bacoor Cavite settled for a Technical Draw in an 6-round Light Flyweight battle versus Brian Diano of Highland Gym, La Trinidad, Benguet after Diano suffered a huge gash in his eyelid causedby an accidental headbutt, which to the view of this wrter was initiated by Diano.

Jerwin Ancajas of Top Contender Boxing Gym dominated Leo De Guia in their 6-round Superflyweight contest, awarding the Top Contender fighter with a one-sided unanimous decision win.

Joel Rafols of Baguio City knocked out journeyman Edwin “Roy Jones” Picardal in 3 rounds in their Superflyweight fight scheduled for 6 rounds.

Norman Arenas scored a bloody 3rd round TKO over Reynaldo Valencia, after a legal punch opened a cut on the side of Valencia’s head. Valencia gave up after he could not take the pain caused by the cut.

Angelo Marcial won by a majority decision over Dodoy Alaformina after 4 rounds.

The boxing event was a joint promotion of Sammy Gello-ani’s SGG Sports Promotions and Sampson Lewkowicz’ Sampson Boxing LLC in cooperation with Top Contender Boxing Promotion owned by Joven Jimenez. This is another attempt of these world-class promoters to search for the next Filipino World Boxing Champion.

I really enjoyed the whole boxing card. All fights were evenly matched and all fighters featured therein were in 100% physical condition. I can confidently say that it is the best boxing show that I witnessed.

See you all at the ringside!

(The writer is a lawyer by profession and a Professional Boxing Referee and Judge licensed by the Games and Amusements Board or GAB)